By Alex Webbe
Following a series of qualifying tournaments played in Gloucestershire, England; Lexington, Kentucky; Aiken, South Carolina; Indio, California (2); and Wellington, Florida, the Women’s Championship Tournament is scheduled to take place April 1-5 at the International Polo Club in Wellington, Florida.
With the season’s final qualifier taking place at the Grand Champions Polo Club in Wellington will field three teams in Audi, Parrot Heads and Catena.
This last of the qualifiers will be followed by the WCT Finals on Sunday April 5th at 11am. The consolation match will take place at 10 am. Both matches will take place at the International Polo Club.
“We’ve had a great response this past year,” said WCT president, Sunny Hale. There were ten teams competing in a tournament in California and this month the Kingston Polo Club in Jamaica is hosting its first WCT Qualifier.”
In June, the Virginia International Polo Club will join a list of clubs around the world that will field tournaments for the following calendar year with the Singapore Polo Club hosting its own qualifier tournament in September.
“I’m very encouraged by the number of clubs around the world that are embracing our efforts at growing top level women’scompetition,” said Hale.
The Woman’s Championship Tournament is a world-class women’s polo event that showcases the highest level of women’s polo in the United States. The WCT format (go to WCTpolo.com) includes WCT Qualifier tournaments played across the country and abroad throughout the year, culminating in the annual WCT Finals in Wellington, Florida.
2009 WCT FINALS TEAMS
CATENA AUDI
Sylvia Firestone 0 Melissa Ganzi 0
Kellie Torres 1 Gillian Johnston 1
Angela York 1 Sunny Hale 3
Erica Gandomcar 1 TBA
ALTAIR PARROT HEADS
Ashley Van Metre 0 Roni Duke 0
Alina Carta 1 Kristine Dalton 0
Kristy Outhier 2 Tiffany Busch 1
Alison Henderson 1 Carolyn Stimmel 1